 Hi everyone, my name is Ben Kaluznik, I'm a senior manager in BC's trade policy and negotiations branch, Ministry of Jobs, Economics, Recovery and Innovation. Welcome and thank you for joining us today for a webinar on doing business in Japan under the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans specific partnership, the CPTPP. Before I go any further I want to respectfully acknowledge that I'm conducting this webinar from traditional territory of the Lekwungen speaking people known today as the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations. Following some welcoming remarks, we have a few speakers who will cover a variety of topics related to Japan and the CPTPP. I want to mention that the session is being recorded today and will be shared with registrants in a follow up email along with presentations that you see today along with some other hopefully useful resources. If you experienced any technical issues of any kind please send a message using the chat function to myself, or to my colleague, Ghana draw. And finally please use the Q&A function at the bottom of your screen to pose any questions for speakers. You can pose these at any time throughout the event and of course there will be hopefully will be some time at the end of the event for some questions. Please be as specific as you can and indicate where possible who you are directing your question to. Now I would like to welcome our first guest, the Honourable George Chow is BC's Minister of State for Trade. We have been fortunate to have him participate in all of our CPTPP webinars today as well as some other information sessions focused on other FTAs. So thank you Minister for joining us today. I will now turn things over to you. Well thank you Ben and good evening to all of you who are in British Columbia and good morning to those of you in Japan. And as Ben said, my name is George Chow. I'm the Minister of State for Trade for British Columbia. I'm pleased to join you from Vancouver on the traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples with whom we share this land and their hospitality. Today I'm here to bring greetings on behalf of our premier, John Horgan, and thank you for inviting me to speak today. Thank you also to the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, Global Affairs Canada and Export Development Canada for partnering with the Government of British Columbia on this great event and joining us here today as well. And it's great to see some familiar and new faces. And I like to talk a bit about trade diversification. So our immediate economic priority have been outlined in our economic plan called Stronger BC. This plan will make life more affordable, train for the jobs of tomorrow, tackle climate change, and position BC for success in the global economy. Well, BC is a small open economy, and we're at the intersection of North America and Asia trade routes. So BC's economic success relies on strong and resilient trading relationship with key partners. Whether it's the pandemic, the impact of climate change, the current supply chain challenges, the war in the Ukraine, or trade protectionism across the globe. Working closely with long standing and trading partners like Japan, it's key to BC's long term economic success. My mandate as the Minister of State for Trade includes developing and implementing a new trade diversification strategy. The strategy will allow businesses to connect with more international partners, creating more jobs in BC, and helping to protect BC's trade network from supply chain disruption, market instability, and geographically specific trends and changes. Three trade agreement information sessions like today's webinar are just one small piece of what BC is doing to support a diversification of what we are trading and with whom we are trading with. So I've been pleased to be able to speak at other information session focused on opportunity for BC businesses in Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia under the CPTPP, or comprehensive progressive trans-Pacific partnership. These geographic location and strong business and cultural ties across the Pacific position us to benefit from increased trade between Canadian and Pacific Rim markets. Japan is the world's third largest economy with a significant consumer market. And it's BC's third largest export destination with goods export totaling $4.7 billion in 2021. The CPTPP offers opportunity for BC businesses across many sectors to enter Japan or to expand our presence in Japan. The CPTPP also presents us with a chance to become better integrated with Japan, which is a key participant in global value chains. BC exports of mining and forest products as well as some agri-food already funding success in Japan. The CPTPP makes BC's provider of goods and services more competitive than providers from countries that do not have a free trade agreement with Japan. Better market access for goods and services and rules for fair and transparent trade and investment are just a few other benefits. Leveraging these benefits can help create good paying jobs for Indigenous people, women, and other groups that have been overly affected by the pandemic and traditionally underrepresented it in exporting. So our provincial trading investment network stretches from BC to Asia, Europe, and the United States. Throughout the pandemic, our trading investment teams have continued to develop opportunity, facilitate virtual business to business meeting like today, for example, and stay connected to key contacts in all markets. These trading investment offices provide a range of services for exporters. They're engaged with existing and potential customers, provide market intelligence and represent BC's export goods and meetings and events. Their job is to accelerate opportunity for BC exporters. BC served Japan related businesses inquiry through the BC trading investment representative in Tokyo and you're meeting them today online. And they work closely with our federal counterparts through the trade commissioner service. Reps from our provincial trade teams are also here today online and I encourage all of you to connect with them to discuss the opportunity created by this new agreement. This will ensure you understand the market opportunity created by the CPTPP. So in conclusion, whenever you may be in your export journey, I hope that you will consider Japan in your trade plans. And I hope today's webinar will provide the information and inspiration you need to start exploring the opportunity that CPP have to offer. My ministry staff offer many information session on how Canada's trade agreement can benefit your business, your workers, your community, and the investors. Please keep your eyes out for upcoming sessions similar to this one. It is a pleasure to be here virtually with you and thank you for your attention. Thank you minister for those welcoming remarks. We appreciate you taking the time to join us today. Okay, next I'd like to welcome Lisa Mallon Lisa is the first secretary trade policy CPTPP, the Embassy of Canada in Japan. We're going to bring Lisa's presentation up right away. Lisa has been a wealth of knowledge for me and in preparation for this webinar as well as some of the other resources, I'm sorry resource materials that will be shared with you later. She's here to talk about the Japanese market and the CPTPP. So, Lisa, I think your presentation is almost ready. So I will turn things over to you. Well thank you so much Ben. Thank you so much to the government of British Columbia for organizing this wonderful webinar. I'm delighted to be joining all of you today from our embassy in Tokyo. It's a cloudy Wednesday morning over here. And my presentation was basically will help situate, you know, why do we see Japan as a vital trade investment partner for Canada, but especially for British Columbia, as the minister so eloquently talked about the importance of Japan. He for regional supply chains in and such a big market for British Columbia. So, alright, let's start with the stats. Look here. These are some really, these are quite striking. So as the minister mentioned Japan is the world's third largest economy has a GDP of $6.2 trillion. It has a mature premium market as a population of 125 million. And 2021 last year, Japan was Canada's fourth largest merchandise trading partner. Throughout the pandemic, Japan has been a really key market for Canada. If we look at 2020 when global trade was, you know, a little bit unpredictable, Japan continued to be a steady market for Canada. 2021 we saw a huge recovery actually we were up 17% in 2021 over 2020. And if we look at even more recent figures we've seen a remarkable exceptional start to 2022 between January and March this year exports from Canada to Japan were up 30% actually when compared to the same period in 2021. So I think this kind of helps highlight why Japan is an important and valuable market for Canada in our post pandemic economic recovery and our efforts to diversify trade. Let's turn to the next slide. So why does Japan matter. Well, we have significant and growing bilateral ties. What might not be as obvious when you look at the statistics, but the fact is, Canada and Japan share common values interest, such as supporting the rules based international order, democracy and human rights, given these uncertain and unpredictable times. It's even more important to know that we share these fundamental values, especially when you're thinking about doing business in each other's markets. Canada and Japan are important partners in security, trade and global economic recovery, and we cooperate really closely in the region and in the world, including in the G seven, G 20, the World Trade Organization, APEC and more. And next year, Japan will be hosting the G seven so please stay tuned for more on our deepening bilateral relationship. I think there'll be lots of interesting things happening on the ground here in Japan. And one of the major developments I think in our overall relationship recently is the growing understanding in Japan about how Canada can play a key role in supporting Japan's food and energy security needs. If we look back just a couple years ago. I think Canada wasn't exporting LPG LPG to Japan, but now we have, I believe about 10% of the market share we went from maybe shipping a couple hundred million dollars to last year in 2021 we shipped about $1 billion of LPG from Canada to Japan so that's just one measure there of how we can support energy security needs. And we have here so Canada and Japan are the two largest economies in the CBTPP, or does Canada sit in terms of Japan's trading partners, or 15 in terms of Japan's largest trading partner but if you look at Japan's trading partners outside of Asia and Oceania. Canada is Japan's third largest trading partner, and we're trailing only behind the US and Germany, ranking ahead of other major economies such as the UK, France and India. And furthermore thanks to the CBTPP, you know our trading and commercial relationship is poised to grow in the years ahead as we take advantage of these new opportunities created trends in Japanese investment to Canada. Canada is Canada's largest investor from Asia is an estimated $46 billion and invested in Canada as of last year. We're seeing some really exciting trends taking place that are driven by our two countries commitment to net zero by 2050, and by the continuing growth of tech and digital. The importance of meeting or net zero goals and advancing ex or energies, energy transition is driving renewed interest in Canada from blue ammonia to green hydrogen title power and lithium ion batteries for electric vehicles. Japan Inc is noticing Canada's strengths and capabilities, and we're contributing to these efforts in Canada through collaboration, investment, and partnerships. Last year Mitsubishi Corporation announced it's considering producing blue ammonia and Alberta. And in March this year, Canada announced that it will invest $1.38 billion in its Canadian facility to produce next generation hybrid electric hybrid electric vehicles so these are some of the opportunities that Japanese companies see in Canada to respond to the needs to address climate change. You can also see the Japanese companies are interested in Canada's tech and startup scene. This is really exciting. For example, last year soft banks vision to fund made investments and at least six Canadian tech companies. We can go to the next slide please. So just look at Japan and CPTPP market opportunities so we've established Japan is a really important market. It's stable. It has its premium and has a very hyper capita income. If anyone has had the pleasure to travel to Japan. Notice Japan has a large middle class. And there's lots of opportunities here. So, interestingly, Japan has a large middle class and one of the oldest populations in the world. You know about a population about the size of Canada that are 65 and older, but it also means that there's opportunities here. For example, for, you know, there's demand for senior friendly products, things that are easy to open, for example, or easy to prepare each smaller portions at reasonable prices. So yes, there's some interesting trends. Again, lots of opportunities grow thanks to the CPTPP. So in a nutshell, how does the CPTPP help Canadian exporters. So number one, very ambitious tariff elimination. Number two, liberalized services investments. We have three I would say labor mobility has been improved for simplified customs procedures. Five, and there's access to public procurement. So those are kind of in a nutshell some of the key themes and and areas that benefit from CPTPP. In terms of export trends to Canada, Japan, we've seen growth, particularly in sectors where there's large tariff reductions. So we have a competitive advantage as the minister said, we can switch to the next slide. I have the opportunity to go to Osaka recently and Japan is hosting the expo in 2025 Canada has announced that we'll be hosting a pavilion there. It's an opportunity to showcase Canada. You might be wondering, why is there a picture of the Osaka Castle here, when I spoke to people at the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry and people responsible for Osaka City. They're thinking outside of the box. They want to help showcase Canadian technology and talent, and they're, they're open to ideas, for example, they said that if let's say a Canadian company wanted to come and do, you know, projections or they wanted to showcase their products in front of the Osaka Castle that's something that they might be open to so there's some fun things to think about in the years ahead, you know in the lead up to the Osaka 2025 expo. We can move to the next slide please. In terms of market challenges, as you can imagine, for all the reasons why we think Japan is a wonderful partner, other countries think the same thing, and so do our competitors so Japan does have FTS with other countries, you know fellow CPTPP members are there Australia and New Zealand, they're on the ground as well. There's some high expectations to taste, for example, freshness appearance packaging is a very complex and demanding market. There might be a bit of a language gap. There might be some multiple layers for importers and distributors, but don't fret, we go to the next page please the next slide. We're here to help you. So the Trade Commissioner Service, I think we've been referred to as Canada's best kept secret we have over 125 years of believe of experience and we have 50 people in our networks, all the way from northern Hokkaido to Fukuoka and southern Japan. We work really closely with our wonderful BC office colleagues here. There's a number of other provinces represented as well on bird as is catch on Ontario and Quebec. We work hand in hand with our offices to give you the best market intelligence to work through some of the sticky challenges that you might have. So please don't hesitate to reach out to us we're here to help you. And in terms of tools and resources. This is all free for all Canadian companies who are interested in exploring different markets, especially including Japan. There's we have instructional videos, you know, there's information that you can, you can access it's all at your fingertips is online. We are delighted to support Canadian companies and give you as much help as you need to figure out if this is the right market for you. And if it is, please, please give us a call. So thank you very much for the opportunity to talk about Japan, we are delighted to be joining you today with our wonderful colleagues from the government of British Columbia. Thank you. Thank you and thank you very much. Thank you very much Lisa that's certainly a compelling case for why our attendees might want to consider Japan as a possible export market. Lisa will remain throughout I believe so please direct any questions you may have to her in the Q&A. Next, I want to introduce Eric Peterson, who is a trade commissioner with Global Affairs Canada. Eric is based in Vancouver, so he's here to tell you all about Global Affairs Canada, specific regional office. So the verdict is yours Eric. Thank you. Good good good evening everyone. Glad to see you and or see you again if if you've been joining from another webinar. Hi, I'm Eric Peterson. I am a trade commissioner here in the Pacific regional office of the Trade Commission observance. And so that means I'm kind of like Lisa, but my specialty is to support businesses here in in the Pacific region to become ready to export I'm basically you can consider me as your your free of charge international business development consultant. Because I help clients in the region become ready to get to market we do preparation for markets we can talk about strategy we can talk about the best places we would suggest you would go. We can give market intelligence we can can give information about different funding programs including can export SME or can export innovation. And then, once we decided the best route to help you get to market. We go hand in hand with our offices abroad just just like Lisa we have offices about 160 different places around the world. And so, from from their perspective it's it's talking about maybe trade policy issues if it's a CPTPP thing or we can talk about qualified contacts making sure that that you are meeting the people you need to to meet for the success of your business. We can do troubleshooting we talk about sanctions and export controls, which is increasingly important given geopolitical circumstances these days. And many of us have experience in places like Japan. I was posted in Japan about 10 years ago. And so I would be very happy to hear from you if you have any questions if there's anything I can do to support you here in the region so that I can help you get to market overseas. I will leave my email address in the chat, we can continue it later or or you can put a question in the chat. Just very glad to support you and glad to be part of this call. So, thank you Ben back to you. All right, thank you Eric. Hopefully our attendees will reach out the next time they need assistance and use that some free international business development expertise or however I can't remember how you put it but that's certainly also very compelling. Next up we have real token aga who is managing director Tokyo office government of British Columbia. Minister chow of course mentioned in his opening remarks that BC has that trade and investment office and team based in Tokyo and so we're fortunate to have real join us today to tell us a little bit more about the role that they play. So I will turn things over to you real. Yeah, thank you very much Ben. Thank you everyone. My name is real token and managing director of the BC office in Tokyo. From me so I will briefly explain about our team here in Tokyo and how your seats stakeholders in the Japanese market. So we're a team of four and we'll be expanding to five in the next month or so. The main sectors that we cover in areas of in terms of exports from BC to Japan are mainly in energy mining resources, agri foods and meat products that pretty much take take up a large bulk of annual volume from BC to Japan side. And just to mention that for forestry products, BC would has a team here in Tokyo promoting wood products from BC. So that's, you know, the resources side and for the technology sector such as clean tech AI quantum computing applications gaming AR VR life sciences that are no kind of focus areas for BC in Japan. We are actively supporting BC companies and making the first connections with BC companies conducting follow ups and entering the market for them to enter the market through partnerships. So, I mean, it does like overlap with the work of trade commissioner service. But, you know, but the difference in my view is that, you know, TCS focus is a little bit more on like conducting Canada wide program, whereas we are a little bit more hands on with the BC BC companies. So as an approach, if you identify Japan as a focus market, and are willing to invest your time and resources, it will be a great idea to go through the TCS network become a TCS client, and also, you know, work with us as well. So, you know, we look forward to supporting some of you in the audience. And with that, I will hand the microphone back to Ben. Thank you. Thank you very much. Also, believe he will be with us to the entire webinar so if there are questions, please do direct them and really appreciate that summary. Hopefully will you will hear from attendees if not today but coming, you know, as the opportunities arise or they need some assistance in market that's good to know that you're there. So I'm just going to give a second for my presentation to be loaded and of course, I, my name is Ben Kluznik and as I introduced myself at the beginning, I am with the trade policy negotiations branch with the province of BC. And our branch is focused on represent what we represent DC's interest in negotiations, both domestic and international free trade agreements negotiation, as well as trade dispute section DC. And that's of course, in addition to the FTA promotion events like we're doing today. Let's move to the second slide please. I know, especially Lisa talked a little bit about some of these things already so I will try not to be too repetitive but with the CPTPP. When it was being negotiated, economic modeling showed that DC was going to benefit more under the CPTPP than under the original trans specific partnership and the primary reason for that was the US departure from the original TPP agreement, ensuring that producers and and all those in DC and Canada would have a leg up on any US competitors in those markets. And so, being on a level playing field with those who already have preferential access in Japan is great. And of course, having an edge on those that don't have that access is also excellent. But it's important to know that that preferential access won't necessarily last forever. The CPTPP is designed for expansion. And so we know that there have already been applications to join as well as several countries that have expressed interest in joining. And that's great too that the more that the agreement grows the more that the access to those other markets can grow. But of course it also means that you may have additional competition in those other markets in the CPTPP area. And so that's one of the main reasons that we're doing sessions like this to try to capitalize on the advantage that we have and help you leverage those benefits under the CPTPP. Next slide please. Of course, we understand that most SMEs like yours don't have a lot of time to be navigating complex free trade agreements. You know, the CPTPP is over a thousand pages and it has 30 chapters with multiple annexes. They're complex language, they're legal. That's why we're here to support you. The agreement covers traditional areas of many FTAs do areas like good services and investment, but it also covers, I guess, less traditional areas of the economic partnership things like digital trade, and things like inclusive trade. There is a dedicated SME chapter, which is really geared toward encouraging SME participation in that in international trade. And it does things like making government procurement opportunities a little easier to access, or just very simple things like making sure that there are simple and easily accessible websites to walk you through how to use the agreement. In Canada, I mentioned inclusive trade. Canada has really thought to make inclusive trade a priority in its recent FTAs and DC has shown that it is very supportive of inclusive trade and free trade agreements. This is really about ensuring that the benefits that accrue from trade are felt by as many people as possible, and in particular underrepresented, represented export groups like women, indigenous and utopian businesses. Let's move to the next slide please. Okay, I'm, I get the, I'm fortunate to be the one that has to walk through some of the technical details so I will try not to be too technical but this just shows you a small sample of tariff reductions under the CPTPP for Japan. Of course, tariff reductions and elimination make the cost of your products more competitive, and one fully implemented the CPTPP will have 99% of all tariff lines will become duty free under the agreement. And so these, what you see here is Japan's tariff on select products under the CPTPP compared with countries that don't have an FTA with Japan. So this is known as the most favorite nation rate the MSN rate, and you can see that in some cases, the advantages quite considerable if you just sort of scroll through you can see that there are some tariffs up to 34, 30, 25% without an FTA with Japan versus duty free with the CPTPP. In some cases, those are already down at zero, and in others you can see that there are some tariff phaseouts that are still underway so with honey for example we're sitting at 9.5% this year and that will be down to zero by 2025. Another thing that you might consider under the CPTPP is imports into British Columbia and the agreement also reduces tariffs on products coming into Canada and so you might be able to bring something in from one of the CPTPP partners as an input into a finished product and also saving you money. So the other thing though that I will mention when it comes to goods is around the agreement efforts to reduce non-tariff barriers and these are things that can also cost you even more than tariffs in some cases. Things like differing standards or duplicative testing, unreasonably onerous labeling or certification requirements. The good thing is that this agreement seeks to tackle these and tries to encourage the use of internationally accepted standards or to create committees to address these types of barriers. If you are experiencing these barriers we would like to know. I think most of us on this, most of the speakers that you hear from today, either they have a direct role in addressing some of these barriers or they know who to put you in touch with to try to get these addressed. Next slide please. This is a resource that Lisa had on one of her last slides. I just strongly encourage you to check it out. I know that the examples, the tariff examples that I had on my last slide were not necessarily applicable for you. This tool allows you to very easily identify the tariffs that may be applicable for you. What you really need to know is the markets of interest and they're good and you can use a keyword or you can use an HS code if you know it and once you plug that in it will let you know what the relevant tariff is, whether there's a phase out and by when it will be duty free. The only caveat here is that this tool is only available for markets where Canada has free trade agreements in place. If that's, if you are looking at a market where there is no FDA then you might want to look at the WTO tariff hookup tool as an alternative. Next slide please. Okay, just a few things to mention. If you are looking to export goods under the CPTPP and this is largely, largely applicable across all of Canada's FDA. As I said, first you need to identify your tariff preference we've already talked about that. The next is to check the rules of origin compliance. To be able to take advantage of those preferential rates you need to demonstrate that you meet the rules of origin. If your good is wholly obtained, then in Canada, then you shouldn't have a problem. But if your product contains inputs from outside of Canada or the CPTPP area, then you may need to check to ensure that it does meet those rules. The good thing about the rules of origin and the CPTPP is that the rule of accumulation applies. So what this means is that if the good is produced in the territory of one or more of the CPTPP partners by one or more producers. This rule allows you to have qualified for those rules of origin and can hopefully encourage you to more actively participate in the global value chain of the CPTPP region. The next thing to keep in mind is that the preferential treatment does not automatically get provided to you. You need to claim it. And so to claim it, you need a certificate of origin, which in this case can be completed by an exporter or a producer or importer under the CPTPP. If the certificate doesn't need to follow a prescribed format, it needs to be in writing, which can include digitally. And if there are some minimum data requirements, if it is in English, it must be accepted. I think Lisa mentioned the word overwhelming. I think, you know, I understand that this can seem overwhelming, but the great thing is that you can request something called an advanced ruling. And this really gives certainty around your product, whether or not the customs agency will determine it meets those rules of origin. It doesn't determine it meets the HS coding for your good that you think it that it meets. And to give you this certainty before your product is even shipped so that there are no surprises at the border. This is this request can be made for usually for three or relatively low cost, and it is binding on that customer authority. Okay, next slide. I'm just going to jump to services quickly and the first thing I'll mention about services under the CPTPP is that the CPTPP uses what is called a negative list approach, which means that all services are covered by the agreement unless a party has taken an exception or reservation against it. And so the first step is just making sure that your service is covered by the agreement. The next is just some of the core obligations that the CPTPP and most other FTAs make around services. First, is that your service as the VC service provider should get no worse treatment than Japan provides services from its other FTA and WTO partners. This is known as most most favorite nation treatment. The it should get the same treatment as other domestic service providers. And the party should not be imposing restrictions on the quantity or types of entities that can be supplying services within Japan. Service providers also benefit from improved access commitments by Japan in key sectors, professional services, for example, legal engineering and architectural transport research and development and environmental services as well. The last thing I'll mention with respect to the obligations is that is local presence. Countries can't be imposing any sorts of local presence requirements or residency requirements as a condition to cross borders by service. Temporary entry is also something you may want to be aware of it is makes it easier for you to enter these markets, including Japan as a business visitor and investor, highly skilled professional. Canada did gain new access to Japan, which happens to have some fairly liberal act, sorry, fairly liberal commitments under the CPTPP when it comes to temporary entry. Note that this doesn't replace the visa process, but it does make it easier to enter if you fall under those those categories. The last thing is government procurement. This is something that we could probably do an entire session to and talking about all of the opportunities available under the CPTPP or wherever but this, you know, businesses can compete for on a more equal basis for domestic with domestic suppliers in Japan as long as the government is sorry as long as the procurement is covered is a relevant good or relevant service and is above a set dollar threshold. Next slide please. Canada is just a similar looking slide but relevant for investment, and I think you may have flipped back there, you could just flip back to investment, please done my screen there we go. These really mirror a lot of the concepts that I just went over with respect to services. So national treatment parties will treat each other's best investors no worse than their own. Most of the nation is one of the parties gives an investment from another country, better treatment they will apply it to Canadians as well. And a minimum minimum standards of treatment for investors rules around performance requirements. So parties cannot impose conditions on an investment such as a by local requirements. Covered investments are protected from expropriation or nationalization except in specific circumstances and and definitely must be accompanied with some sort of adequate compensation. Investors can freely transfer capital and profits related to an investment into and out of the whole country, and temporary entry as I mentioned on the previous slide also applies for investors under the CPTPP to Japan. And the one thing I will mention there is just that, in effect with some some of the provisions under the CPTPP Canada has entered into 10 different bilateral agreements, rather than one consistent multilateral agreement with all of these parties and so just because you know that you can enter as an investor under the temporary entry program for Japan. Please don't assume that that also applies for say, New Zealand, for example, because New Zealand may have taken different commitments and it's important to check to make sure that that's also the case for other countries to be looking to enter. And that's that's it that's the last slide. If spoken too much already, this is my contact information. If leveraging the CPTPP or getting it to Japan is something that you're interested in. Please contact me and if I don't have the answer I will make sure to get you in touch with someone who doesn't. Thank you. So, as my presentation is removed, I will introduce our next speaker. Who is Dr a w lead, a w is senior program manager diversity and inclusive growth strategy for women entrepreneurs with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. Thank you for joining us today a w I will turn it over to you. Hello, everyone from BC and in Japan. I, I'm just going to pull up my presentation and share a screen, right I believe it is up. If it, if it's not, please let me know. Great, great, great. So thanks again, Ben, and I again am a w e and I support women and gender non binary entrepreneurs introduce their companies to new markets in the Asia Pacific through dedicated trade missions and I'm from the traditional territory of the Wendat and she now beg and put nationality peoples. And I'd like to say that I'm grateful as a racialized migrant settler to be a guest among my friends and my neighbors can take a conning kaha kha big And because I am here to highlight opportunities for growing inclusive trade ties between Canada and Japan. I'd also like to reflect on the dish with one spoon treaty, one of the several agreements shared between indigenous nations in the area that I call home, reflecting of mutual caring and sharing in abundance with each other and sharing that that dish that we all share is never left empty. And so in that spirit, like Ben mentioned the CPTPP advances Canada's inclusive approach to trade with provisions to ensure that the benefits of trade and abundance that is created are more widely shared among underrepresented groups like women and indigenous people in Canada, such as the first nations may see anyway but also indigenous people around the globe, including CPTPP countries, like Japan's I knew people. So, a little bit of background on the foundation for those of you who are unfamiliar with us we are a national nonprofit think tank focused on strengthening Canada's relations with Asia and our mission is to be a Canada's catalyst for engagement with the Asia Pacific and the Asia's bridge to Canada. So, in that vein, stemming from national focus group research from across Canada from Vancouver to Halifax, we convened women in business academia and government between 2017 and 2019 to discuss broadly the economic barriers to women's advancement, and a key recommendation that we took out from that that we that the surface was that women only and gender inclusive trade mission to high growth, as well as mature economies in Asia was necessary to move the dial on inclusion of underrepresented groups in trade. So, in 2019, we, APF Canada delivered the first ever Canada women only business mission to Japan, shortly after the CPTPP entered into force at the end of 2018. We were sponsored by manual financial Air Canada and Japan luxury goods companies met the Tavisa. We were also supported by a number of nonprofits universities from Canada and Japan as well as the governments in both countries. We were able to support 17 entrepreneur women on the trade mission that year, and it was designed around companies operating the multi sector care economy, including companies ranging from healthcare services fintech companies, pharmaceutical companies, med tech devices, AI robotics, etc. And these were all aimed at the Japanese market of, like Lisa mentioned, the rapidly aging demographic, which continues to create a fantastic opportunity for companies in that space and so the format of the mission was and included several market training opportunities leading up to the conference. This included officials from the Japanese government who provided insights into the business culture in Japan, as well as support from the Canadian trade commissioner services in Japan, who led site visits to tech innovation centers showcasing Japanese elder care technology so for example here we have one of our delegates trying on a walking assistance robotic device powered exoskeleton, helping to drive the legs for people with mobility issues like people after having a stroke. Let's see if the video will play. And so at the time, it was a new innovation that just a few weeks prior received FDA approval in the United States and our delegation got a sneak peek of the device in Japan. In addition to those innovation site visits, we convened a cabinet level discussion on gender inclusion in STEM and business with participation from Canadian and Japanese officials touching on best practices policy opportunities to advance gender equity and trade. And most importantly of all we work closely with the Canadian trade commissioner services in Tokyo at the embassy to provide the to be matching services for our delegates and in the two months subsequent to our mission out of 17 delegates eight deals were struck and this included sales contracts research and development distribution deals, but following our delegates in the two years since major deals have come to fruition with multinational consumer technology labs for farm companies, industrial design partnerships with Japanese car developers for one of our manufacturers. And so we had a mix of immediate as well as long term successes coming out of the women's mission. So following our following our delegates in the years since they've also reported other intangible benefits like having that cultural and business training prior to the mission was invaluable for our delegates and we arranged introductions to business culture from former diplomats in Japan and Japan's trade office prior to the delegates even getting to the country. And the delegates also reported that participation in the trade mission lent a kind of credibility to their companies in our markets in which their companies were relatively unknown so since relationship building us anywhere. And so the way or internationally requires requires a lot of trust to be built by joining our mission they were able to demonstrate a real commitment to the Japanese market by going in person connecting with important market players and stakeholders. This gives them a certain X factor boosting credibility and market profile, but it wasn't just their association with the high profile corporations but also dignitaries like here are the business mission delegates at a luncheon with Imperial Highness Princess Takamoto as part of the official program. Again lending significant profiles to their companies in a new market. So, the networking was by far one of the best outcomes for our for our delegates because in addition to networking with government and industry folks, they were also able to benefit, surprisingly, by networking with each other so building camaraderie with shared objective of supporting women and gender diversity and trade. They were also closely related. They were also in closely related industries within Canada so it helped cross pollinate opportunities even after they returned home to Canada from the mission. And finally also the ongoing support from the trade commissioner service as well as APF Canada's continued networking opportunities help the entrepreneurs really follow through with long term relationship building so here is a picture of our delegates in Ottawa. Well after the mission with the Honorable Marying, Minister of International Trade, and then Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, not pictured but he was at the luncheon and this really helps continue this this commitment to long term relationship building in Japan. So following the successes of our mission to Japan we led subsequent missions to South Korea, Taiwan, India, Australia and Zealand and unfortunately they were a mixture of hybrid and online events. So here's the Korea Trade Office welcoming our some of our delegates as well as the Minister of International Trade to their offices. We had many zoom meetings as you all have had in the last couple of years. This is also in the in the middle Minister Audrey Tong, Taiwan's first trans woman identified minister responsible for all things digital welcoming our Canadian entrepreneurs to Taiwan's innovation economy. So, despite the format, irrespective of it, we've still supported dozens and dozens of women and gender non binary entrepreneurs be introduced to over 350 companies and other potential partners in the Asia Pacific, and we are proud to report that even though many of our meetings resulted in tangible outcomes anywhere from a half to two thirds of our delegates depending on the mission had follow on negotiations many of which have led to sales contracts partnership deals boots on the ground agents. And due to the need for continuous relationship building many of these talks are still ongoing so we really look forward to some some good outcomes from that. If they decide to deal or make a sale, they still walked away with with plenty of new information about each economy and their potential product market fit, working with the trade commissioner services afterwards. So, I am delighted to share with you that at the end of this year APF Canada that we are returning to Japan to lead the second business mission dedicated to supporting women and gender non binary entrepreneurs. Even though it's not officially announced yet I'm able to share with this advance, especially curated audience interested in Japan, that our applications are opening soon, and that our thematic focus will include clean tech and healthcare technologies. Lisa mentioned all of the great opportunities in clean tech that are that are available to to Canadian companies who support carbon neutrality clean technologies to reduce emissions and and the energy transition to renewables, but also Canadian consumers who are in the healthcare side. Japan's aging population, like Lisa mentioned, is the world's oldest population. Last year they estimated 36.4 million people over the age of 65 and with with an elderly. That was the third largest economy in the world and with a relatively large cohort of middle class consumers who want to preserve a high quality of life into old age. There's quite a runway for tapping into this expanding market because that age cohort won't peak until it's completed the in the 2040s so opportunities for medical devices other elder care solutions. And, and so I look forward to, to hearing for any from any of you who are interested and fit the criteria for our trade mission. Again, our, our applications are opening soon. And so thank you very much. Please get in touch with me if you have any questions. Thanks, AW. Clearly the foundation is doing some excellent work to further inclusive trade and if any of our attendees today we're on the line last week for our Australian Zealand event you will know that he was very eager to make, make that announcement and so it's exciting that you are able to say that you're returning to Japan and with another mission. That's excellent. I just want to I'm not sure we've received any questions yet so I just want to remind everyone to send any questions that you may have through the Q&A as we are starting to get closer to the end of the webinar. Next speaker is Morgan Brown, who is Account Manager for BC or with BC and Export Development Canada. Thanks for joining us Morgan, I will turn it over to you so you can let everyone know about what you do and how EDC might be able to assist our attendees. Perfect. Thanks so much Ben and I'll trust you let me know if you can't see this. And but yeah thanks everyone. Good evening from me here in Vancouver or good morning if you're in Japan. Pleasure to be here and just want to give a quick overview of EDC and what we do to help Canadian companies so we are an export credit agency. Our mandate is to support and develop Canadian capacity to engage in export trade. We're dedicated to helping Canadian companies of all sizes succeeds on the world stage. So Canada's trade performance has lagged OECD peers and myself and I think my colleagues all believe that Canadian prosperity relies on international trade and investment so that's what we're really trying to do here. We want to help them respond to international business opportunities and where we fit in is we don't compete with banks or other lenders but we partner with them to help companies. We are a Crown Corporation wholly owned by the government of Canada and we operate at an arms length from the government. A quick shot here of just where our offices are away from Canada. We do have feet in these markets who are working with businesses who know the the economy is there and it really just helps with our expertise in providing Canadian companies with the information that they deserve and that they need to go abroad. While Japan isn't listed here we do have a representative Chia Wan Lu who's based in Shanghai and who covers the Japanese market. A lot of numbers here but I invite you maybe to pick a couple to to focus on for myself. I like the one on the top left there the jobs created in 2019 from EDC, EDC investments and financing that we did. So that just goes to show the mandate that we're trying to follow which is growing the Canadian GDP and helping businesses succeed. Also the second one is the 16.1 billion there that that I want to highlight. We don't just help Canadian companies export goods abroad, but also we can help them open offices in other countries and and grow themselves there so while we do want Canadian companies to keep them successful at home. We also love to try and find the next international success story and and and help them to to beat the other competition out there. So our major solution and where we play is broken down into these these main areas. We're trying to level the playing field for Canadian companies doing business internationally and equipping them with with tools that they need to expand and diversify their business. The main one is financing. So we partner with Canadian banks and share risk where they might be unwilling to take it on themselves, a couple different products under there that we won't have time to get into insurance, just protecting the payment and and this can even be used to access more working capital with with banks if if you have insured receivable knowledge. We provide resources and expertise in expanding internationally and connections. We can connect Canadian companies with companies abroad who are a good fit for one another and can benefit from from each other's services or products. Quick here this just came from our rep in in Japan there. We've shared some other numbers but this obviously resources by far is is leading the way here will break it down just on the next slide and then light manufacturing a close second. I also want to highlight I guess the smaller ones where we can, we can still play in these areas. We're not just focuses on on resources. That's where the BC economy is is successful in and that's where we've seen the business but there is opportunities for for other growth and I'll touch on that later as well. This is the forestry leading the way here with agriculture and fisheries close and this is EDC business facilitated in Japan. I found a good article on our public website from Matthew Fraser he works with the trade commissioner service and lived in Japan for five years. He tips for for doing business in Japan. One of the main points that Lisa and AW mentioned as well was the aging population so some countries are turned off with flowing growth, but it is growth, nonetheless, and it's a large market to try and tackle. Global Affairs Canada is projecting $1.8 billion annual increase to Canadian exports to Japan for the next 20 years so there is a lot there. The CPTPP as others have mentioned, equals opportunities to pair of cuts are leveling the playing field and from the previous slides where we are heavy on the resources. Matthew does see a lot of opportunities in the next 20 or 30 years in aerospace, chemicals and plastics, clean tech and education. So that's where we think there'll be some opportunities going forward, and we're able to help in those in those areas. And finally, slow and steady wins. So, this is brought up the Kaizen term there wasn't mentioned in the article but it just made me think of that. As you may know it's it's slow and steady continuous improvement. So there's a lot of good principles in that, but you to look it up after to improve your business or your life. And that's where he felt was a common way to to get into the economy there. So, lots of personal bonds develop relationships and things don't move as quick as you might want it. A quick overview of our team I just wanted to include this because you'll get the presentation after, and you'll have our contact information and feel free to reach out to any of us. If it's a good fit, or to me and we can see how we can help. This one as well since you'll get the slides, these are all hyperlinks with some great resources that we offer on our public website. I can invite you to check those out as well as if there's anything that can help you there. And that's that's it for me I just wanted to reiterate our mandate. We want to help can't Canadian companies grow, go and succeed internationally. And we're here to help you so please don't don't hesitate to reach out to myself or my colleagues. Thanks Ben. Thank you so much Morgan we will include Morgan's contact details in our follow up email. So anyone who's interested can follow up with him. For the last part of our webinar we wanted to bring you some information directly from someone operating in Japan. And to that end, we have a couple of speakers I'm not sure if Jennifer, I see Jennifer still on the line but I know that she may be in the process of catching a fairy. Jennifer, I just want to check to see if you're available okay Jennifer. Jennifer, who I will introduce in a second. I'm also going to introduce a Kiko Kuroze with prop Japan. She is. She has joined us as well and hopefully she's connected. We are prep is DC blueberries Council market coordinator for DC blueberries in Japan. And some of the information that Kiko has to say may not align with your, you know, your experience or some of your goals. But, you know, given the focus on blueberries but hopefully there's something that you can take from the presentation. And, you know, general market information or experiences or whatever it may be that she can share. Thank you for being here at Kiko we're really interested to learn about the Japanese market what's it like operating in the ground there. Okay, thank you. Thank you for the introduction so I will share my screen here. Okay, so it is my screen okay. Yes, it looks good to me. Okay, thank you. My name is thank you for the introduction my name is a Kiko Kuroze of prep Japan prep Japan group has been the partner agency for the BC blueberry Council in Japan since 2019. It is an honor to represent the BC blueberry Council and a pleasure to have this opportunity. So today, I will present to you the market landscape and opportunities for BC blueberries, BC businesses in Japan, and some examples of successful activities that the BC blueberry Council has executed in Japan. So here is in the agri food business. Most of this information will be for every food or consumer products but I hope there's something that you can take away from this presentation. So, Japan is only about one third of size compared to BC but as you know well we are just next to Canada and neighbors across the Pacific. And Japan has just entered the rainy season which will last about a month it's hot and humid in summer and cold and dry in the winter. So, to give you an idea of the market size for agri food food products. Here are some figures of the number of outlets in Japan over 17,000 supermarkets over 2,500 mid to large scales, what we call general merchandising stores or shopping centers. Nearly 57,000 convenient stores which in like central Tokyo you can find on every block or corner of the town. 540,000 food services which are restaurants and cafes and this count daily does not include like nightclubs and such food services. Of course there are a lot of competitors both domestic and international but these would be potential outlets to showcase BC agri food products. So, for the Japanese there's a, this is a real national issue but Japan has a low food self-sufficiency ratio. Canada as you can see on the far left is completely self-sufficient which is such an impressive figure compared to us on the far right. In terms of calorie based we are under 40% self-sufficiency and although for some items such as rice which we have 100% vegetables and others have a higher ratio than 40. Japan's food supply relies on imports. During this webinar I was listening to what Lisa and AWS and also Morgan was mentioning that some of our national is for some of our national issues Canada can really help us and it's really great to have a friend to be able to help in these four for our issues such as food supply, also energy and also our aging population. Japanese consumers are highly price sensitive, especially with the recent inflation situation but we also love gourmet and high quality food. You may know some of our fruits and seafood that are like perfectly displayed in boxes for gifting and so on. According to a consumer survey 45.2% answered that they're willing to purchase a premium consumer product if the taste quality or health benefit is satisfying. So a lot of BC products have great quality therefore if promoted properly. We believe that there could be many opportunities in the Japanese market. And of course the CPTPP is a great opportunity since it became effective we communicated to trade and media that terror has been eliminated for blueberries. Another advantage of this is that the respective governments are promoting this partnership and companies industries and media in Japan put importance in following policies promoted by the Japanese government. And the CPTPP has been one of the reasons that for importers to consider to switch to Canada from other countries. And next I would like to introduce to you some of the activities we have executed to raise recognition and promote BC blueberries in Japan. Communication and education in a local language is highly important as a English proficiency in Japan is quite low even among corporate executives. So we have a local website and we issue press releases regularly to communicate and educate the Japanese audience about BC Canada, BC blueberries and its products. We have also developed recipes with Japanese food specialists and chefs as the preferences and portions differ a bit from Canada. And we also exhibit in trade shows every year to raise recognition among trade food services and retailers. BC blueberries are sampled and we also always get really positive comments about the great taste and quality of the berries. This may be a surprising to hear but very few Japanese are aware that Canada or BC is a major blueberry production area. So we start by explaining this and also explain the location of British Columbia. And compared to 2019 when we started we believe that more people recognize Canada and BC for its fantastic blueberries. We also have executed promotions with cooking platforms that have influence on trade and consumers, and also some social media campaigns with these promotional activities initiated by the BC blueberry Council and all the tremendous efforts of BC blueberry makers and producers. Also the support of British Columbia and Canada, Canadian governments, and also, of course, its offices in Japan. Canadian blueberries currently have the top share frozen blueberries in imported in Japan. So, I hope this presentation has helped to give you a slight idea of actual business in Japan. This is one of the top five PR communication agencies in Japan and with 50 years of history. We also have supported foreign businesses organizations seeking to enter or grow their businesses in Japan. If you can have if you have any questions about this presentation or interest in our services. Please feel free to reach out to me, I would be happy to help. Thank you and back to you. Thank you, I think we have had definitely had some broad applicability for, you know, at the very least some other agri food producers and hopefully others as well. We have some more just a few more minutes so I just wanted to check in quickly with Jennifer again to see if she's connected and I don't want to put Jennifer on the spot because I only spoke with her earlier today but Jennifer is the CEO and founder of ULAT Dryer Balls and I just wanted to give her an opportunity to speak a little bit about her own experience with respect to Japan and Jennifer, I'm not sure how your connection is but please, please maybe please connect and see if we can, we can hear you. Hello Ben, can you hear me all right. Yes, yes very well thank you. Well, greetings from BC Ferries. Currently floating in the Salish Sea here on the west coast of British Columbia. So sorry for the interior of my U-Haul as I actually prepare for my export of product to Japan, so the timing could not be more perfect. Great. And it's lovely to see so many familiar faces. I'm not quite sure how much time I have but I'm really glad that Ben reached out and wanted to get my, or for me to give my perspective on the experience and I think many of the points were wonderful in each presentation, all very diverse very informative. But I think slow, steady, guided, collaborative, think of ecosystems and patience is all what is needed to really find your footing in Japan and it's great to know that you have many partners who are there to support you as I've had in our experiences and continue to. But I would also encourage those who are in the clean tech sector for consumer products with the global warming happening. It's actually helped boost the popularity of my product as the rainier seasons are longer. Japan is having to embrace the life of a dryer and their laundry tasks and that's where my product comes in to help meet United Nations sustainability goals as well as to help families help assist their pocketbook when trying to live healthy happy homes with their family and friends in their community. So just to think a bit beyond the box but really be prepared to be nimble patient and great to have a team like like these people on board today's today's panelists and information providers, but also on a broader scale. There's a lot of people during my time at the G 20 YA as a partner delegate in 2019. It was wonderful to spend a week with the representatives of the trade commission office of the KDMC in Tokyo into local Japan and really learning the ins and outs and meeting with some really spectacular knowledgeable caring folk who really want to nurture and make our relationships between our two countries so much stronger and more meaningful than I actually anticipated. So if I can be of any assistance and answer any questions I'm happy to share my, my email to to those who are listening. And I thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on the wild ride of exporting dryer balls to Japan. I hope this helps Ben. Thank you. Yeah, thanks very much Jennifer appreciate that. We will definitely include Jennifer's contact information in the resources that go out and appreciate you connecting from the ferry. That's great. We are running near the end of our webinar today so I just, I know I can't believe it but we somehow got through. There was a question in the Q amp a and it looks like somebody, one of our speakers has noted that they were going to follow up questions specific to indigenous trade missions and I think Eric is going to follow up and I'll provide something as well from the government side that will hopefully be of use. But if there are other questions, of course, follow up with any one of the speakers individually after the session. And that's all we have for for today's webinar, as you can see there are layers, so to speak of trade supports and other types of supports available to you all. Most of it is free as you and as you navigate, you know exporting and entering the Japanese market I hope you can leverage that. If you don't know where to start please just reach out to me and I promise to get you in touch with someone who can help. This really is a collaborative effort and we are here to help you. Thank you for your eyes open for that follow up email I mentioned and thank you all for joining special thanks to Mr chow and all of our speakers for your contribution. I hope to hear from all of you very soon. Thank you.